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Abstract

Feces from patients with colorectal cancer (HK) and healthy individuals (HN) were inoculated orally into germ-free mice under azoxymethane (AOM) or vehicle. The fecal microbiota remained stable in germ-free (GF) mice up to 42 days after fecal transplantation. Numbers of aberrant crypt foci, levels of MATH1, and HES1 mRNAs in the colonic mucosa, were higher in HK-GF than in HN-GF mice with highest levels observed in HK-GF mice treated with AOM and significantly associated with higher Bacteroides and lower Coprococcus bacteria in stools. Thus, CRC patients’ fecal microbiota can induce early precancerous changes in the colonic mucosa in germ-free mice.